Sunday, April 25, 2010

for thomas wright "fats" waller (25)


for thomas wright “fats” waller
(1904 –1943)


only you
can make this world seem right…
the platters

only u, fats, could frustrate yr reverend father’s
holy plans. only u could make him laugh, were surely
his expectation come to nothing; his lovable
incongruity. but divine humor is much less
mysterious than divine movement & yr frames of
reference were engineered to collide, yr shifts in
perspective duly twisted by a laughing god
who loved to hear the music u made. its incessant
shifts from seriousness to play, embodied in yr
syncopated right hand melodies uncannily
paired to a misbehavin’ stride left hand made ole al
“scarface” capone kidnap u at gunpoint & compel
u to play three days for his birthday – only u, fats!


©Joseph McNair; 2010

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